(6) Gomer . . . Togarmah.--Again the address turns to the extreme north. Gomer, like Magog, a people descended from Japheth (Genesis 10:2; 1 Chronicles 1:5), is identified with the Cimmerians; and for the house of Togarmah, the Armenians, see Note on 27:14. In the last clause of the verse, people should be in the plural. This was to be a general gathering of the strength of the world against the Church of God.
38:1-13 These events will be in the latter days. It is supposed these enemies will come together to invade the land of Judea, and God will defeat them. God not only sees who are now the enemies of his church, but he foresees who will be so, and lets them know by his word that he is against them; though they join together, the wicked shall not be unpunished.
Gomer, and all his bands,.... Or all his army, as the Targum. Gomer was the eldest son of Japheth, Genesis 10:2, from whom descended the people called by the Greeks Galatians, or Galio-Grecians, as Josephus (i) says, who before were from him called Gomarians: others think that Phrygia, and the inhabitants of it, are meant; but, whether one or the other, they were both people of the lesser Asia, which is now in the hands of the Turks:
the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands; Togarmah was one of the sons of Gomer, Genesis 10:3 whose posterity, according to the Greeks, as Josephus (k) says, were the Phrygians; but others rather think the Cappadocians descended from him; and that Togarmah designs their country, which also is a part of the Turkish dominions; See Gill on Ezekiel 27:14. Several moderns, as Calmet (l) observes, believe that the children of Togarmah peopled Turcomania in Tartary, and Scythia, and which he approves of; and the Turks are mentioned by Ben Gorion (m) as one of the ten families of Togarmah. The Targum renders it here the province of Germany; as it is also interpreted in the Talmud (n), but wrongly:
and many people with thee; from other places and nations, besides those named; especially out of the lesser Asia, as Pamphylia, Cilicia, and other places; and perhaps from Tartary, and elsewhere,
(i) Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1.((k) lbid. (l) Dictionary in the word "Togarmah". (m) Heb. Hist. l. 1. c. 1. p. 3.((n) T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 10. 1.
the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands; Togarmah was one of the sons of Gomer, Genesis 10:3 whose posterity, according to the Greeks, as Josephus (k) says, were the Phrygians; but others rather think the Cappadocians descended from him; and that Togarmah designs their country, which also is a part of the Turkish dominions; See Gill on Ezekiel 27:14. Several moderns, as Calmet (l) observes, believe that the children of Togarmah peopled Turcomania in Tartary, and Scythia, and which he approves of; and the Turks are mentioned by Ben Gorion (m) as one of the ten families of Togarmah. The Targum renders it here the province of Germany; as it is also interpreted in the Talmud (n), but wrongly:
and many people with thee; from other places and nations, besides those named; especially out of the lesser Asia, as Pamphylia, Cilicia, and other places; and perhaps from Tartary, and elsewhere,
(i) Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1.((k) lbid. (l) Dictionary in the word "Togarmah". (m) Heb. Hist. l. 1. c. 1. p. 3.((n) T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 10. 1.